I need some insight into this , please ..
So those who are working and have a family to look after to , how do you manage the kitchen? do you tend to cook every alternate day? cook it all on the weekend to last the working week ?
What is the best way forward please?
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
I cook every alternate day, regardless...but times that I was working, the only other thing I'd do was make sure I had chopped onions and tomatoes on hand as well as garlic...oh and make sure hte dishes were done by the time i had to cook.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
my husband and I cook together on the weekend.. 1 rice dish, 1 chicken dish, 1 mutton, and 1 sabzi! (and we divide the work equally so its like I will cut the tomatoes for everything and he will chop the onions etc) we freeze the chicken n mutton and use up rice n sabzi for the first couple of days.. also we take out at least once or twice a week especially for lunch at work!
Friday night is our pizza nite and thats either home made or take out depending on how lazy we feel!!!
honestly we dun have time to cook during the weekdays.. I cant even imagine cooking after coming back from work.. I am usually starving by 5:00-6:00 so no energy to cook at all and need dinner right away!
Also, we have frozen kabab, samosay, parathay etc and in case we don't have any food at home and can't bother with take out we just use that or make egg sandwiches!!!
and for brekafast we keep it simple, tea/cake rusk/bread n jam/ butter cookies, cereal etc but I dont leave the house until I have done the dishes in the morning!!!
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
^How do you freeze the food? I mean, does it still taste as good as newly made? Its def. a smart idea
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
Gemini that is such a great idea, I was having such a hard time managing work, school and kitchen. I think I am going to have a talk with hubby and follow this routine. Its sounds great.
Plus you only have to do all the cutting chopping in one day and then you are done for the week.
Love the idea. thanks!
I usually cook after I get home from work, which is very tiring. I do the dishes right away.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
I knew a lady who was going out of town for a month and made foods for an entire month for her husband.. idk how it tasted...
I normally cook at my house, since my mom works... been cooking since 12. But when I started working also, we would get pizza on Monday and try to cook before going to bed at night. Also, we had a stock of unfried samosas, parathas, different types of kabobs, rolls and ramen noodles. Now we have hired a desi cook... soo problems are solved.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
I know about many families where both husband and wife work. Food for whole weeks is prepared over the weekend and frozen. I used to live with a family as a paying guest before I got married. The lady used to cook some fast and furious meals every day. She would cook something special over the weekend though. If they would order pizza she would order only when I would come back from work so that I could get hot off the oven pizza. She used to make sure that I get food every day as I was paying for meals too. May Allah reward them highly both husband and wife used to take good care of my needs and were very responsible folks. They had two of their own very young boys still I have no complaints against them.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
well we have learned that sabzi doesnt taste good after defrosting mostly due to water content but chicken karahi, haleem, nihari, etc turn out just fine.. we freeze them in small containers, defrost it in the microwave and eat it with naan, or sometimes home made roti! and oh by the way atta doesn't freeze well either :D
Last week, we made yakhni palao and used double the amount of required mutton and then froze half of yakhni and boiled meat.. next time when we are in a rush, we will just take that out, thaw it, bhoon the meat, add rice and palao will be ready!
It's working out fine..and I am glad that my husband isn't just one of those guys who need freshly cooked salan everyday Alhamdulillah :-)
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
fabulous ideas there , thanks so much guys 
GTG , yeah you are right .. perhaps I must start doing that too .. here in my part of the world , both of us dont like food from the shops .. mainly for its taste and hygiene reasons … and weekend just flies away so quick , I sometimes wish we had three days off rather then two :hinna:
Khair … I guess I will do this from now on, like freeze some of the food..
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
when both of us used to work, my hubby used to help, cutting washing cleaning veggies/meats...I used to do prep on the weekend like pasta sauce, galaofy meats, and make kebobs, merinate meats, make stocks etc and then use them according to what we feel like having that day. Veggies we used to make fresh. I never froze things in big batches, I used to freeze stock in 2 batches, same with pasta saues, meats etc. if you defrost and then freeze aga8in usually things taste less than fresh.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
I don't usally get home until 7.45 which means cooking curries everyday is out of the question. I tend to make quick meals during the week, i.e. pasta, fajitas, stirfry, daal, sabzi etc. However when ever I cook a curry I cook extra and freeze portions, so on those days when I'm in too late to cook even pasta we take something out of the freezer. Otherwise its a takeaway, Friday is always a take away or a meal out regardless.
I also keep home made kebabs, aloo tikki, samosas, grilled chicken, chicken wings etc on hand just in case, as well as frozen quiches, fish cakes, pasties and pies.
We kind of bumble along and play it by ear, I have just invested in a slow cooker however, so will start using that for meals too.
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
love slow cookers...we always make nihari in slow cooker
Re: Working women and cooking routine..
Yes, I made nihari in a slow cooker last weekend, turned out great!